


A School Trip

by Tysolna



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Community: watsons_woes, Gen, Injury, Kid Fic, Watson's Woes July Writing Prompts 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 08:28:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11376402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tysolna/pseuds/Tysolna
Summary: John Watson accompanies Rosie's class to a school trip to the Chislehurst Caves. Things go wrong when a bank robbery causes a cave-in.Told by Rosie's teacher.





	A School Trip

**Author's Note:**

> For the 2017 July Watson's Woes Promptfest prompt #1, Back to the Beginning. Your prompt for today is the very first prompt from the very first JWP in 2011: Watson injury (any severity), from a different POV than Holmes (meaning Mrs. Hudson, Scotland Yard, Baker Street Irregular, The Villain (whoever he/she may be), etc.

Of course I had met Rosie's father before, in passing, when he picked her up from school. He always looked a bit, I don't know, conservative? Rosie told me he was a GP, and I suppose it fits. Also, who these days calls a girl Rosamund, in a class full of Brooke's, Ayla's, Robyn's, and Lexi's. Rosie said her mummy had died and her godparents helped her dad raise her, but she was never specific in what they did. 

Then there were all those stories she told, about how her dad and her godfather had adventures, but I always chalked it up to the child's vivid imagination. You know how they are at that age, and especially with a single parent. I've had kids in my class before who seemed to have more imaginary friends than real ones. 

Anyway, when we planned the school trip and Rosie's dad offered to come along as parental help, I was delighted to be able to get to know him a little better, and maybe talk to him about Rosie's tales of high adventure. 

We were going to the Chislehurst Caves, you know how kids love that, walking around underground with oil lamps, and the exhibits with figures from mining days and World War 2, you get the whole history of the place, it ties in beautifully with all sorts of subjects, but who am I telling, right? You've been there, it's always fun. 

So, we set off from school, with Mr Godfrey from 2C and Mrs Lashmi, Kala's mum. All the kids excited to go on a trip, parents helping to keep everyone together, Mr Watson as pleasant as you please. Of course Rosie's close to him, but he doesn't play favourites, and that's great. You know how sometimes the only reason parents go along to one of these things is so that they have a sort of day out with their child? Not Mr Watson. Good man. 

We all had a snack on the train, I checked that every kid had their water bottle filled up, took Bethany to the loo, you know, the usual stuff. We get to the caves in time, kitted out the kids with the hi-vis vests and the lamps. Oh, did you know they have solar lamps for the children now? No worries any more about anyone getting burned on the oil lamps, I'm glad they finally got the message. While Mr Godfrey stayed behind to sort out the paperwork for the school and have a cigarette, we go down to the cave entrance, let the kids run around in the hall a bit to get rid of some of their excited energy before John Smith joins us and the tour starts. Mr Watson has this infectious giggle, and he's really good with children. Good thing too, considering what happened. 

I suppose you heard the news about the break-in at the bank? How they used the caves as a break-in point? Yeah. Guess where we were when that happened. 

Yep, deepest part of the cave tour. 

Suddenly, there was this loud boom and the whole part of the cave we were in seemed to shift. At that point I was still thinking it was a new part of the tour they didn't tell us about, but Mr Smith looked as confused as me. Mr Watson looked up, there was this trickle of dust from the ceiling, and all of a sudden he took charge, herding the group into a side room, shoving a panicked Mrs Lashmi out of the way of the falling rocks, picking up little Elijah who's always last to get anywhere. The last I saw of him there was trying to cover Elijah with his body, and then the ceiling came down.

Once the dust settled, I saw Elijah running towards me, tears streaming down his dusty face. I was just glad he was OK and tried to calm him down before everyone starts crying too. Mrs Lashmi was clinging to Kala, no help there. Mr Smith was out cold, he got hit by a rock. I couldn't see Mr Watson, but some of the loose rocks were shifting and there he was, and boy was I glad to see him. That would have been the crowning achievement of my teaching career, kill a parent on a school trip!

He was hurt though, I could see. There was a trickle of blood on the side of his face, and he was holding his left arm awkwardly. Amazingly, Rosie walked up to him, taking off her vest and helping him knot it into a makeshift sling for his arm, like this was something she'd done before. Watson smiled and kissed the top of her head, then turned toward us, looking around as if assessing the situation. He told us to turn off the oil lamps to save oxygen, so we're left with the children's solar lamps and who knows how long they last until we're stuck in darkness. He checked on Mr Smith – of course, he's a doctor, I remembered. He seemed satisfied that Smith was only unconscious, but not seriously hurt. 

Mr Watson then took out his mobile and I saw he was biting down on a curse, because of course there is no signal this deep underground. All the while, I was still stunned by what just happened, but now the children were starting to get restless and whiny. Understandable, really, but not helpful. 

Mr Watson looked at me, smiled and winked – winked! - as if nothing was wrong, and it was so incongruous that I felt better and smiled back. We're both into crisis mode now, although thinking back I wonder why he had a crisis mode to begin with. 

We both checked if the children were all right, which I was relieved to find they were. Watson made them check our supplies and put everything they had in the centre of the room, together with one of the solar lamps. We had water enough for all of us, a few chocolate bars, crisps and fruit, and Watson made Chris and Alexa responsible for the supplies. It felt almost like a military operation. 

I was feeling pretty good by then. Surely it was just a matter of time before someone came to rescue us, and all we had to do until then was keep the children occupied and not panic. I gathered the children in the middle of the cave and started to tell them stories about miners who occasionally were, like us, caught in a cave-in, going into the history of mining a little, and how they were saved by the people outside who knew what was going on. I think they started to feel like this was a grand adventure.

Rosie was sitting next to her dad, of course. I looked over to them and noticed that Mr Watson was pale and shaking. I had Mrs Lashmi dole out some of our supplies and went over to them. 

Apparently, Mr Watson was hurt more than he'd let on. He was cradling his left arm, and the trickle of blood on his head still hadn't stopped, though it was hard to see under all that dust. I got a bottle of water and a chocolate bar to him, and he accepted both gratefully. Although he was beaten up pretty badly, he still tried to reassure me that everything would be all right soon. What a man to have with you in a crisis!

We had been down the caves for quite some time now, and one by one the solar lamps were going out. Bethany started whining again that she had to go to the loo, Michael started to cry, and I was pretty much at the end of my wits. Teacher training doesn't cover situations like these. 

Suddenly, I heard commotion outside, something that sounded like hammering, and voices calling. I got all the children to shout as loud as they could so that whoever was outside could hear us. Then rocks started sliding away from the blocked entrance, and soon there was a hole with bright light streaming through it. Almost immediately there was a dark-haired man in a hi-vis vest crawling through it. After a quick look around, he made a beeline towards Mr Watson, and while more of the rocks were removed so we could all make it out, the black-haired man gathered Rosie and Mr Watson in his arms, while Watson told him to be careful of his injuries and calling him a git, although he was smiling. I later found out that this was Rosie's godfather, a Mr Holmes. 

Anyway, long story short, when Mr Godfrey had heard what was going on, what with the explosion and all, he and the Chislehurst Cave staff got the emergency services, and they all went down into the caves to find us. Mr Godfrey told me that they were soon joined by Mr Holmes, who had been with the police at the bank apprehending the robbers. Mr Holmes seemed very frantic and pushed everyone hard to find us, as if they needed the push. 

In the end, we got all the children out and cleaned up in the staff room. Mr Smith and Mr Watson were whisked away in an ambulance. Mr Holmes stayed behind to look after Rosie. Rosie introduced him to her friends, and although Mr Holmes seemed a bit posh, he got along with the children who took to him for some reason. Maybe it was because he told them about the bank robbery, and then some gruesome tale about a murder, which I hope he invented for the occasion, getting the children to guess who the murderer was.

Although, all things considered, I am beginning to think that the stories Rosie tells are not so much from her imagination, but are actually real...


End file.
